


To a Good Home

by cablesscutie



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Dogs, M/M, Puck the Pitbull, Some angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 00:37:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8644552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cablesscutie/pseuds/cablesscutie
Summary: anonymous asked:the ban on pitt bulls in montreal just got delayed!! it kind of inspired a fic idea though- let's pretend jack still lives in montreal and has a beloved pitt that he adores but he's scared it'll get repossessed with the ban. so he posts an ad for someone to adopt his dog temporarily until he can figure something out. enter bitty! who ends up falling in love with the dog! and then the dog's owner! idk i just really love dogs





	

Jack held Puck on his lap, not bothered by the fact that she was really too big for it. Ordinarily, he’d tried to keep her off the furniture in the living room and certianly in other people’s homes, but since the news of his trade from the Falconers to the Habs, he hadn’t found hmself able to deny her anything. Eric Bittle, to his credit, didn’t seem to mind. With the possibility of Montreal banning pitbulls looming, he’d been forced to find her a new home. It had broken his heart every time he looked at her big happy eyes and known that he’d have to give her up. One night, he’d thought crazily of saying fuck it and giving up hockey instead. But in the end, he’d put word out that his dog needed a loving home, and a couple days later, he had an email from Eric Bittle, offering to meet up and discuss an open adoption.

As bitter as he was about the whole thing, he had to admit that Eric seemed great. He was warm, and friendly, and unbearably cute. Puck took to him immediately, licking Eric all over his face when he crouched down to say hello. Jack had appologized, but Eric had just laughted and made kissy faces back at her, scratching behind her ears. When they’d both turned big brown eyes on him, he’d felt his heart skip.

They’d made small thalk over pie and coffee, with homemade dog treats for Puck. Eventually Jack had asked what Eric meanty by open adoption.

“Oh! I guess maybe I should’ve explained more over email. Um, I was thinking, you know, you might not be in Montreal forever, or the ban could go away and maybe…you’d want her back? And for the time being, I could, um, send you pictures and videos of her, and when you play in the area or during the off season you could…visit? Of course if you wanted to do a closed adoption, that’s fine too. Just…” Eric finally took a breath and let it out, a little shakily. “I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you, and I just want to make it as easy for you as possible.”

Jack was surprised to see that Eric’s eyes were a little wet. “Thank you,” he said, not able to make himself ashamed of his own choked up voice. “I - If you really don’t mind, open adoption sounds perfect.” He ruffles Puck’s ears. “I never get to see her much during the season, but I can’t really imagine her just being gone.” Eric reached out and rubbed a hand up and down Jack’s back. The comfort of the touch loosened the ball of tension in his chest just enough that a sob tore out of his throat. He was a little embarrassed to be crying on a stranger’s couch, but Eric just handed him some tissues and kept rubbing circles between his shoulderblades while Puck snuggled closer.

After he recovered his composure, he turned to Eric. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. Eric squeezed his shoulder before withdrawing his hand.

“Oh, sweetheart, don’t you even think about it. This is a hard decision and you have every right to cry about it.”

“Thank you.”

“Ain’t nothing.”

For the rest of the afternoon, they talked about Puck’s favorite parks, her typical exercise (”I try to take her with me on my short runs.” “Oh, that’s perfect! I try to get in a few miles after work.”) and the basics of Snapchat (”And see, now you tap on the little pink box next to my name -” “What are the purple ones?” “Those are on my story.” “Story?” “…Good Lord, you are a terrible millennial.”)

By the time he had to say goodbye, Jack had even forgotten to be sad. Eric just felt like a normal part of his life. But evenutally it was late and Jack had probably overstayed his welcome, so he excused himself, citing an early flight, and gave Puck a hug goodbye and some final pets. He told himself that at least she wouldn’t be scared tonight. She was used to spending time with sitters. As he started up his car, his phone buzzed with an incoming Snapchat. It was a picture of Puck stretched out on Eric’s couch, captioned “well someone’s making herself at home”. Jack took a screenshot the way Eric had showed him and put the car in drive.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to send in more prompts at imaginezimbits on tumblr, or come say hi at my main, latticeontop!


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